Pretio: Story of a Schizophrenic a Diary of Lovers

By Debra Godsee

Pretio is a continuation of my previous autobiography, Love’s the Only House. This book is a diary of the love and loyalty Pretio and I share and his journey with colon cancer. It expounds on my mental breakdowns—due to the aftermath of my first marriage—in order to create awareness of the disease. It also delves into the multiple reunions of myself and my previously estranged sons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796039641

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Copyright © 2019 by Debra Godsee.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/23/2022

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Flashbacks

RECURRING SYMPTOMS

Diary Of A Schizophrenic

The Diagnosis

POEMS

He Was My Great Grandfather My Grandmother’s Father

Cherokee Trails

Growing

A Cry To Be Heard

Class Of ’92

Spring Is In The Air

Indecision

Mara

Wings Of Fancy

About The Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to our son, Jeremy.

That he may know the Love his Parents share is true love, no matter the tainting of our imperfections.

*credits to Jeff Hagood Photography for the cover photo of this book.

Flashbacks

FLASHBACKS

I t was a warm, beautiful, summer day. It was my birthday. I was taking my brother to a friend’s place to see about getting him a job to work in the fields. I was wearing a pink t-shirt, a long skirt with flowers on it, and showing my toes as I was wearing flip-flops.

I met you. You were staying with my friend. While chatting among ourselves, you declared that you were going to marry me not long after we’d gotten there. You told me later that you fell in love with my toes and long hair. I was immediately attracted to your dark eyes and the freckles on your face, like the stars in the Sky.

We just fit from the start and I invited you to come to my place. We spent the night catching up on our lives like old friends. I fell asleep in your arms on the couch. We continued our relationship from this point on. We spent the days with my three sons as though we’d always been. Eventually, we decided to take a trip to Florida for us to meet your family. As we all know that didn’t turn out well, because it was the beginning of our nightmare without my sons: Timmy, Joey, and Mikey.

We returned home without my sons, and began a life together just the two of us. We began to seek ways to travel to New England to try to get my sons back as they were now with their Dad. Upon our first trip to New England, I went to the courthouse to begin a custody battle for my sons.

In 2003, I lost that battle because I answered during the last court proceeding that, I don’t know., if I was going to give my sons back to their Dad; should I be given physical custody of them for the summers. I believed my sons to have been abused by their father and if I had continued to see signs, I would have fought every legal means necessary to keep them. However, I failed to explain myself and was given only supervised visitation rights at a visitation center.

In late 2003, with the divorce and custody finalized we were soon married. Our wedding day was at a creek where we spent many days visiting before and after the wedding with and without my sons, and eventually with Jeremy our only son. We were married two years before Jeremy’s birth on your birthday as we had met on my birthday and I wanted to return the favor. I can’t say for sure when or why it began, but for as long as I can remember you have called me Sugar Pie.

Pretio, do you remember... when we returned home from a court date in New England? You had a job in construction at the time. I joined you at your job and helped you destroy some of the buildings in town for the town to widen the road. We